Yesterday instead of Pier 39 and my family Christmas party as per California traditions, I went to the Christmas Markets in Lübeck, Germany on a trip with DIS.
The bus ride there was about 4 hours (including ferry time). We watched Miracle on 34th Street, it was the remake and I am partial to the original, but it was the beginning of a day filled with thoughts of childhood Christmases with my Grandma. I tried to stay in the happy memories part of my mind but it did occasionally drift to how much I miss her, but remembering loved ones is always hard around the holidays.
We got to Lübeck and it was beautiful. Covered in snow but with blue skies, my favorite. The first market we went to was very little and consisted of a few food shops, a pony ride, and a giant ferris wheel! We paid the 4euro to go and was afraid it was going to be a rip off. It was the best thing we did all day. The wheel went around at least 6 times and paused for us at the top, and you could see the entire city complete with churches, the river, and snowy rooftops.
We got bratwurst for lunch and then went to a Christmas market in a huge church right next door. It had a maze of little cabins with different handmade crafts being sold. There was a lot of wood carvings and candles. The church itself is a beautiful medieval work of art. It was charming, warm, and had bathrooms. We lost a few people from our group in the crowd, but since we do not use our phones outside of Denmark typically because of huge roaming costs we did not bother trying to find them just then.
The next market we went to was along a shopping street and had all of the decorations you usually see on city streets in Europe, and then some! The stalls here were a lot of food and more mainstream things to buy (like hats and scarves). We ran into our lost group members and they told us to buy these fried dough pieces covered in powdered sugar. I am never going to eat doughnuts ever again when I go home. We are AMERICA, I feel like we should be the best at frying things in fat, but we simply aren't.
The next few markets included an "Enchanted Fairy-Tale Forest" which was similar to a mini San Jose Christmas in the Park but all the scenes are Brothers Grimm fairy tales. A Medieval Market that was like a tiny super classy Renn Faire. They sold a lot of cool jewelry and wine. We got some of the christmas punch with rum in it, apparently a lot of the stalls went too heavy on the rum, but luckily we picked one that made theirs really weak (probably just trying to rip us off) so ours was drinkable and quite tasty. Another market on the other side of the church that was prime shopping for cute ornaments and decorations, where I spent too much money but was happy with my purchases. Then back to the end of the shopping street market, where I saw this:
I had been seeing these all day in every shape and form, but this one was at least 35 feet tall. The absolute greatest thing about the holidays here is that they have all the things that my Grandma, and now my family has at Christmas time. Little straw angel wreaths and candles in the window are normal. Oodles of ornaments that remind me of ones that we have at home but I have never seen at other friends houses. I feel like I belong here. It is so weird because I am American, I am not Scandinavian American or German American. I have always wanted a culture to grab onto like families that are new immigrants or have a less mixed background. Being here makes me realize that something that is great about America is that we all are fresh immigrants. So we don't have thousands of years of history as a people, and we will never understand things like Denmark's "tribe" culture, but it's great because when your kids go to study abroad in December in a country by where her family originates from she will discover that she really is Swedish and German and she will no longer think that maybe you weren't just making it up! There are a lot of things that I want to buy here so that I can have them when I am older to share with my family at Christmastime. However, I could not bring myself to pay 50euro for a wooden candle spinny thing, even though it is something I have grown up with and want one of my own. Hmm, now I am having second thoughts. I think I am going back to Germany before Christmas, so I may have another chance if I decide that I really need one.
We went to the mall where I bought my sister something that may never make it back to the states and stay in my kitchen and stomach. We went to dinner with the big group from DIS at this restaurant that used to be a big deal for sailors to eat at, but is now super fancy with a great atmosphere. I think I read it was established in the 1400s. No big, I eat in places 300 years older than our country. They had really beautiful Christmas decorations. It was the perfect end to a German day filled with Christmas spirit!
The trip back home took 5 1/2 hours because the snow was so bad. We watched Love Actually and It's a Wonderful Life. I fell asleep during Love Actually which I was really sad about, but It's a Wonderful Life made me very happy. Usually bus movies suck, but all 3 of the ones we watched were perfect. After I walked home from Frue Plads (where the bus dropped us off) back home in perfectly falling snow. I love walking on fresh snow, it looks so pure and perfect. I went home and lit my advent candle and did some cleaning. It was the perfect day.
I really would have liked to blog about my last day of practicum, but I fear I missed my chance. It was bitter sweet. I love those kids so much and each one I interacted with changed my life. It is an experience I will never have ever again.
I have so many papers and so much work to do by Friday. After Friday I will only have 1 final left next week. Everyone is leaving soon. I need to finish planning my break. Everything is Christmasy and perfect, with a looming cloud of finals and goodbye right on the horizon.
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